12/13/2007 Christmas only comes once a year and the Puyallup Giftmakers program is making sure it is a happy one for local children in need. Rogers High School junior Amelia Klein has been a personal shopper at the Giftmakers event for the past five years. Her involvement started with the Girl Scouts. It is something the organization is involved in every year. As a personal shopper she guides parents through a makeshift shopping center to pick out the best gifts for their children.
“I just keep coming back,” Klein said. “I plan my holiday season around it every year.”
The experience has been very fulfilling. One year, she recalls how her best friend and her were shopping for a gentleman with a little girl.
They found a Barbie toy car they thought she would like. The item must have cost at least $75, she said.
“It was amazing,” Klein said. “He didn’t even have word he just started to cry. It’s that kind of experience that keeps us coming back.”
Klein and other local high school students guided parents and grandparents throughout Immanuel Lutheran Church on Dec. 7 and 8 to pick out new toys, books, stockings stuffers and school supplies to make the holidays a little more plentiful for families who might not have the money for presents.
This year, Giftmakers provided gifts for more than 270 families and including 763 children.
The program started in 1987 as a leadership program for students in the Puyallup school district. It was the brain-child of teachers Janet Davis and Anita Jinks and administrator Karen Hansen.
“We want them (students) to be learning to lead,” Hansen said.
Twenty-one years later it has evolved into an annual program that not only gives students leadership opportunities by organizing toy drives and fundraising, but also gives a full holiday gift experience to children in need.
Each family is identified by elementary school staff and sent an invitation to be part of the holiday shopping experience.
Upon entering the two-day store, there is a reception area for people to check-in while a local harpist group plays holiday tunes. Volunteers spend time with children making arts and crafts while their parents go off with a personal shopper to select gifts for the holidays.
Each child receives one new toy, books, a game for the family to enjoy, stocking stuffers and school supplies.
“They are overwhelmed with what they get,” Hansen said. “You just dissolve into tears because people are just so happy.”
In the beginning most of the toys were made in occupational classes in the district, Hansen said. Students would design, test and mass produce toys.
The program has grown to include all new toys and the community plays an active part in making it possible through school and community toy drives.
“It evolved to include more community groups,” Hansen said.
No district money is spent on the program, she said, everything is dependent on donations from the community.
“You have to collect all year to get enough toys,” Hansen said. “The beauty of Giftmakers is that it happens throughout the year.”
It takes hundreds of students and community volunteers to make the early event possible, Hansen said.
Nina Laverdure is a single mom who works and is attending school. On Saturday, she came by the church to shop for two grandchildren and five children.
“I just think it’s great the kids do this,” she said.
There’s money to pay the bills, but without Giftmakers she wouldn’t be able to give so many gifts, she said.
It’s not just the toys either, the books are something her children are really going to appreciate. And with each child receiving three books, they have a library of material to pick from.
“My kids all love to read,” she said. “With 21 books they’re going to be in hog heaven.”
Finding the time to shop is a challenge in itself, Laverdure said. The personal shoppers make it really easy to find great gifts in a timely manner.
“You don’t sit there and have to wait very long,” she said.
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